Container with reinforced closure



Oct. 16, 1956 c, sposrro 2,766,923

CONTAINER WITH REINFORCED CLOSURE Filed Oct. 19, 1953 2 Shets-Sheet l Oct. 16, 1956 J. c. DESPOSITO CONTAINER WITH REINFORCED CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. l9, 1953 fnuenfof" Julian CDLESPOSZZZZJ lllllllllllll Ir United States Patent CONTAINER WITH REINFORCED CLOSURE Julian C; DEsposito,.Wilmette, 11L, assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application. October 19,1953',.Serial No. 386,699

2 Claims. (Cl. 229-23) The present invention relates: to shipping containers made ofrpap'erboard designed for heavy duty, such as the packaging of refrigerators, washers, dryers, electric ranges and. similar large, heavy articles.

One object of the invention is to' provide a strong, efiicient and economical top closure construction for large, heavy duty containers, the top construction being capable of withstanding external downward pressure, as in the piling of loaded containers one upon the other or towithstand the weight ofworkmen walking upon the topsof loaded containers placed closely together, as when stored in a warehouse.

Another object is to' provide a reinforced top closure having an efiici'ent arrangement of depending flap portions which will effectively embrace the vertical side walls of a tubular body member and tend to maintain the side walls in a straight, undeflecte'd condition to enable such walls to carry their'intended vertical load.-

A further object is to. provide a container closure having flaps arranged both inside and outside the walls of a tubular body portion and in opposed relation to each other whereby adhesive attachment of the. tubular body to the closure is facilitated.

A still further object is to provide aform. of closure for a container having a tubular body. portion, in which the closure is adapted to cooperate with corner reinforcing members located inside the vertical corners of the tubular body portion.

Other and more specific objects-willlbecomeapparent in the description. which follows and willbe pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is: a perspectivetview: ofi aheavy' duty: container constructed in accordance withthe-present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the cover portion of the container with the flanges of the cover'extended;

Fig. 3 is'a planview, on a reduced scale, of'the. blank from which" the body portion of the container is constructed;

Fig; 4 is a plan view of a blank which forms the bottom panel of the container;

Fig. 5 is a plan View ofa blank for forming vertical interior corner reinforcement parts for the container;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of an interior wood platform w ich is adapted to support the contained article;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the container with a portion of the cover broken away showing the corner reinforcing parts in place; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional View, taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 7, further illustrating the corner reinforcement parts and the manner in which an attaching flap on the closure fits between two reinforcement parts.

The container as herein disclosed is preferably formed of heavy corrugated paperboard or heavy bendable, solid fibreboard to protect eifectively rather bulky and heavy articles packed therein during storage and shipment. The vertical walls of the container are preferably made from a single blank secured in the form of a tube. The bot tom closure is preferably of strong heavy paperboard.

secured to the body member by suitable attaching flaps. A frame of wood or other suitable material is employed to give rigid bottom support to therpa'cked article. A double-thickness top closure is preferably employedhaving flaps to engage each of the fourwalls' both. inside and out, and interior corner elements are preferably provided to reinforce the container and. give it vertical compression strength.

Referring'in detail't'o thedrawings, the containercomprises a body member 10, bottom closure. 1'1 and top closure 12. An article supporting frame 13 is provided to rest upon the. interior of the bottom closure. The tubular body member is preferably made of a blank of heavy paperboard; This blank is illustrated on a reduced scale in'Fig. 3, and. comprises panels 15', I6, 17 and 18 with a short attaching flap. 19 on panel 1'5 arranged for attachment to the free edge of panel 13. In the present instance the body member is formed from double Wall corrugated paperboard. as indicated in Figs. 7 and 8.

The bottom closure Til is preferably made from a single blank, as. shown in Fig. 4,. and comprises a main panel 21' with attaching flaps 22', 22, and 23, 23, arranged to be. secured on the outside surfaces of the walls. of the body member.

The top closure is preferably formed from two superposed blanks of heavy, corrugated or solid fibre paperboard secured together in any desired manner but preferably glued to. provide a uniformly strong bond throughonttthe overlapping. surfaces of panels 25 and 31 as shown in. Fig. 2. The upper comprises a main panel 25 with attaching flaps. 26, 26 and 27, 27 extending therefrom. and defined from the mainpanel by fold or hinge lines 28 and 29.v The spacing ofthese fold or hinge lines conforms to the outer dimensionsv of the erected tubular body member so that the flaps 26 and 27- can be folded down to lie snug and fiat against the upper exterior portions of the tubular body member walls.

The lower blank of the top closure, as herein shown, comprises a main panel 31 from which extend flaps 32, 32 and 33, 33 defined from the main panel by fold or hinge lines 34 and 35. The spacing: of these fold or hinge-lines is preferably suchthat, when, flaps 32 and 33 are folded down at a right angle to the main panel 31, the outer. surfaces of the flaps 32 and 33' will bev substantially accurately disposed flatwise on. the. adjacent inner wall surfaces of the tubularbody' member. Fig. 8 illustrates. this arrangement in which the upper end? portions of the body member walls are. snugly embraced between. the inner and outer attaching flaps.

For the. purpose of. givingadditional strength. to the container corner reinforcing members-may. be employed. In the present instance these members. are in theshape of hollow trian'gular'tubes or'postsand they arepreferably: formed from a-single sheet of paperboard providing a central flatpa'nel. extending between-two tubular rein forcing members. Referring to Figs. 5, 7 and 8 the corner members are made from a rectangular blank 37 having fold lines 38, 38 which define the limits of the flat central panel 39; and fold lines 40, 41 and 42 at each end of the blank, to provide at each end of the blank a series of panels 43, 44, 45 and 46. Each group of these latter panels provides the three sides of the triangular reinforcing member with a fourth panel 46 folded to lie against the inner face of panel 43.

The tubular members are of such length that they abut the under side of the main panel 31 of the underlying closure portion.

It is to be noted that the panel portion 39 extending between the tubular corner reinforcing members, when 3 in place, will lie flat against the inner surface of each end wall 16 and 18, thereby adding one layer of paperboard to such end walls. Thus the side walls of the body member are illustrated as comprising two thicknesses and the'end walls three thicknesses. V V V In assembling the container and'packaging the article therein, a convenient procedure is to place the bottom closure panel flat on a floor or other supporting surface, then place the wood frame 13 thereon and secure the article thereto. The tubular body member is next slipped over the article'until it comes to rest on the bottom closure; Suitable adhesive is then applied to the flaps 22 and 23 and these flaps are then folded upwardly against the adjacent walls of the body member and held until the adhesive has set. a

Theassembly is now ready to receive the tubular corner reinforcing members which are then slipped in place between the article being packaged and the walls of the container. The panel 39 extending between the corner members is arranged to lie flat against its adjacent end wall. The top closure members with superposed parts 25 and 31 previously assembled together, preferably by glue or the like, is then ready to be assembled onto the V tubular body member. Flaps 32 and 33 are first folded at right angles to their attached main panel and the closure is then placed in closing position on the body member. The freshly bent over flaps 32 and 33 will tend to press with substantial force against the inner wall surfaces of the body member due to the resilience of the heavy paperboard. ,This pressure aids in providing correct positioning of the side walls of the body tube as well an assisting in the securing of flaps 26 and 27 as described below.

As soon as the closure has been placed on the body member with flaps 32 and 33 in place adhesive will be applied to the under surfaces of flaps 26 and 27 and these flaps will be folded down and held against the exterior madein the construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is therefore desired that'the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

I claim: i 1. In a heavy duty container of, the character de scribed, a hollow body member having a plurality of sides providing a tube of substantially rectangular .cross section, a closure member for one end of said body. member; a and a pair of body and closure reinforcing members, said closure member comprising an outer and an inner sheet of relatively heavy paperboardinterconnected with one another, each closure member sheet including a main panel of substantially rectangular shape corresponding to the cross sectional shape of the body member, each edge of each of said main panels having an integrally connected flap extending therefrom inthe, same general direction from corresponding sides and'into overlapping relation with a marginal portion of said end ofthe body member, the flaps of the inner sheet being disposed against the relatively adjacent inner faces of the respectively corresponding sides of the body member at such end and the flaps of the outer sheet being disposed against therelatively adjacent outer faces of the respectively corresponding sides of the body member at such end, each of said reinforcing members comprising a generally rectangular sheet of paperboard having a portion at each of opposite sides folded into a columnar tube form extending, sub-- stantially parallel and in spaced relation to one another and to the columns'of the other sheet and from one end of the body member to the other end thereof internally surfaces of the body member walls until the adhesive v has set. An important consideration is thatthe outward pressure applied by the internal-flaps 32 and 33 provides a firm backing for the inward pressure which may be applied'by any suitable means against the down-turned external flaps '26 and 27. The container as thus assembled and packed is ready for shipment.

From the foregoing it is apparent that an eificient form of heavy duty container is provided which may, if desired, be assembled entirely by hand or by the use of very simple equipment as it is necessary only to provide means for holding the external flaps on the top and bottom closures against the body member side Walls until the adhesive applied to the flaps has set. Obviously semiautomatic machinery may be employed to reduce the hand labor now connected with such packaging to a minimum. The provision of the internal flaps on the top closure assures that there will be substantially no tendency for the side walls to buckle or become deflected from a flat condition. By keeping the walls straight and true they will function to sustain the weight or other compression forces which they were designed to bear.

While the present description sets forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, various changes may be of the body member, the columns of each sheet being disposed in the adjacent'corners formed by the juncture of a pair of opposite sides, with an intermediate side of the bottom member, areas of each column adjacent'to the flaps of the inner sheet of the closure member being disposed substantially in face-to-face abutment relation 0 against the inner faces of the adjacent side walls of the body member in the corners at said end, portions of the flaps of the inner sheet of the closure member being disposed between the columns with the end edges of such flaps disposed adjacent to the columns.

. 2. The container construction defined in claim 1 in which the flaps of the outer sheet of the closure member extend substantially from corner edge to corner edge of the body member and are firmly secured to the body member References Cited in the file of this patent V UNITED STATES PATENTS 

